Did someone from Italy mail me a letter?

berkumps · Post by **berkumps** » Tue Feb 21, 2012 11:53 pm

I ask because I received an empty envelope with no return address from Italy, and I don't recall having any pending trades or purchases.

EDIT: NM, I figured it out. Seems I got screwed by someone at Poste Italiane.

sdematt · Post by **sdematt** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 4:11 am

What were you waiting for/what did you get screwed out of?

-Matt

berkumps · Post by **berkumps** » Sat Feb 25, 2012 4:18 am

I ordered some Relentless Rats promos from an MKM user, but somewhere between him and me, the envelope got torn in half, and the cards removed. All I received in the mail was the empty half of the envelope that had my mailing address on it.

The seller said the same thing happened to him on cards he purchased from the US, so he thinks someone at the airport is "screening" incoming mail. He thinks airport, because he has never had an issue domestically. He is going to the authorities, we'll see if they decide to look into it.

Gits · Post by **Gits** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 1:30 pm

To me it seems there are two possible explanations for it:

1) The easiest one: the letter went through an automated sorting machine and something went badly. Mechanized sorting machines do not always react well if a letter envelope contains big rigid elements like toploaders without some "driving" support like cardboard that keeps the whole envelope relatively straight. They tend to tear the paper envelope, and the content can be scattered. When that's found around the machines, the original missive is impossible to locate.

2) Some thief. That can happen and happens too much in some custom office here. The situation is known but really complex to handle (I guess).

GlobalBoosterHunter · Post by **GlobalBoosterHunter** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 2:01 pm

That sucks! This is pretty common in the United Kingdom, at least it was when I left a few years ago.

Postal workers would feel the mail and if anything felt like credit cards or passports or even birthday cards they would run an edge under a tap, once the paper was wet and weak the envelope could be flicked and the contents would fly out through the weak side.

All you would get is an empty envelope which looked like it had been damaged in the rain.

This happened enough times that if we ever posted anything it would have sticking tape folded along each edge and a cross over the middle. It didn't matter how wet the envelope got, nothing would come out, but they never got wet once we started taping everything.

yvel · Post by **yvel** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 6:46 pm

Gits wrote:
2) Some thief. That can happen and happens too much in some custom office here. The situation is known but really complex to handle (I guess).

This kind of things also happens in France.
Today I received an order, the enveloppe has been opened, but by miracle, cards was still in.
It was clearly a thief ...without magic knowledge.
Lucky me

mystical_tutor · Post by **mystical_tutor** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 7:39 pm

I have gotten a couple of envelopes through the mail with cards in them that I really gave a sigh of relief to see they had not been messed with. One was from France (today--thanks for remembering me Francois-Yves), one from Russia a while back. Padded envelopes seem to make it better.

Gary

flametongue · Post by **flametongue** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:11 pm

GlobalBoosterHunter wrote:That sucks! This is pretty common in the United Kingdom, at least it was when I left a few years ago.

Really? I have never had a problem in all the years ive been getting and sending stuff in the UK (touch wood), still i guess if thats your experiance :(

effai · Post by **effai** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 11:33 pm

mystical_tutor wrote:thanks for remembering me Francois-Yves

well, it's a bit late, sorry, but you're welcome :D

Gits · Post by **Gits** » Mon Mar 19, 2012 11:42 pm

Padded envelopes do not go through sorting machines ;)

GlobalBoosterHunter · Post by **GlobalBoosterHunter** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 9:06 am

flametongue wrote:
GlobalBoosterHunter wrote:That sucks! This is pretty common in the United Kingdom, at least it was when I left a few years ago.
Really? I have never had a problem in all the years ive been getting and sending stuff in the UK (touch wood), still i guess if thats your experiance :(

We had a bit of a problem with Nigerian gangs, particularly around the busy times of year such as Christmas when the Royal Mail would employ anyone with a pulse at very low wages. They were getting a lot of applications from Nigerians. Turns out that they weren't really in it for the long unsociable hours or the minimum pay!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -mail.html

Article is from one of the main sensationalist tabloids in the UK and is a few years old. I only ever lost a few packages but my passport was interfered with enroute for renewal, good job it wasn't on its was back from being renewed or I would probably never have seen it again.

CHaPuZaS · Post by **CHaPuZaS** » Tue Mar 20, 2012 11:02 am

I already told that in another thread, but there are also a lot of thiefs in our Postal Service here in Spain. There must be a guy somewhere that has almost the same amount of cards in his Giant Growth and Scryb Sprites Global Sets for free.

l0qii · Post by **l0qii** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 6:25 pm

Today I got a bad feedback from someone whose package was opened in transit and had items removed. He filed a complaint and got his money back even though as a seller I had done nothing wrong.

We all agree mail theft is a growing problem. Let's talk about what we can actually do to fix it.

1) Send everything insured. This works domestically, but international can be difficult, even with Registered mail, neither country is willing to cover what happens in the air/ocean between the borders.

2) Use private couriers like UPS/FedEx exclusively. Very pricey.

3) Try to find enough evidence to file a lawsuit? This isn't likely to get very far without a lot of time, money and energy invested.

Any other ideas?

Gits · Post by **Gits** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 6:41 pm

I would not advice to ship insured unless both parts agree, both for the heavy custom duties associated (exp. here, absurd...) and for the fact that high declared values on small packets gather unwanted attentions ...

l0qii · Post by **l0qii** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 6:48 pm

Gits wrote:I would not advice to ship insured unless both parts agree, both for the heavy custom duties associated (exp. here, absurd...) and for the fact that high declared values on small packets gather unwanted attentions ...

This is true, but then all the risk lies on the seller. I think this is why so many sellers refuse to ship international

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Did someone from Italy mail me a letter?

Did someone from Italy mail me a letter?

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